The high priestly blessing is an amazing thing. Moses hears God speak and then whispers to
Aaron the words he is to speak over the people.
If you look back at the chapters preceding this one you will find a
little formula that repeats itself again and again, "the Lord spoke to
Moses and said…" and then Moses
will speak to the people as the Lord speaks to him. Occasionally there is a variation on the
theme that says, "the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron…" In these cases it is to give instruction to
the priests for their duties. This is
the first time Moses hears the Lord speak and then gives Aaron the words to say
rather than speaking them himself. Moses
gives the commandments of God but to Aaron is reserved the right to speak the
blessing of God over the people. His
role is defined then by this action, he is to lovingly speak God's word over
the people of God, " The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his
face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance
upon you and give you peace." What
a precious gift to Aaron, the man who made the golden calf. That is restoration, God style.
Jesus tells a parable of a manager of a household, the
servant who oversees the household and the other servants. That servant has a unique responsibility and
relationship to the master. He sets the
tone by acting as his master would himself.
If that servant is unfair and severe with the others, the master will be
harsh and severe with him in return. If
he knows what to do and fails, the punishment will be heavy and if he knows not
what to do and fails, even then will he be punished, however lightly. The principle is enshrined in our own law,
ignorance of the law is not a defense. There
is a responsibility to know the demands of the job of leader. Leaders in the church have a high call but a
heavy responsibility and the way they carry out that responsibility
matters. It is our job to make Him known
in all things. God is love but that
needs some unpacking to make the truth known.
Paul sees clearly that this Jewish magician, Elymas or
bar-Jesus, is not truly Jewish at all, he is a son of the devil, and is doing
what he can to get in the way of the Gospel as it is preached to his master the
proconsul. Paul chooses blindness as the
curse for this false guide as a sign of the power of the Gospel. The Gospel was and is not only words, it is
also power and Paul identified the impediment to the Gospel and spoke to it
directly. Paul himself was blinded for
the sake of the Gospel. Surely he saw
the irony in this moment of blinding one so that the Good News might be
received by another. Our words do have
power when we speak the Lord's words, not when we presume to speak in order to
bind him by our words. That is a
dangerous false teaching in the church today.
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